Day 10 - Wednesday 11th October 2006

Today we head off to the Big Apple.
Up at 6am so we can do our last little bit of packing before our shuttle arrived at 7am. Check out was a breeze and our shuttle was exactly on time. In even better news, we were the last group to be picked up by this shuttle so we didn't have to meander through Anaheim for 45 mins like we did when we arrived.
The trip to the airport was almost an hour and then it was another hour to check in and get through security, but other then being time consuming was pretty painless. Thankfully unlike in Aus, once you are through security the first time thats it, you can even buy liquids/gels past the security point and take them on the plane. We headed off to the Qantas club to kill 90 mins in peace and to have a bite of breaky.
11am arrived and we took our seats in the very back row of the plane. We sat on the runway for 25min apparently due planes being diverted due to bad weather on our flight path. Eventually we were off.
Our flight was 5 hours long but uneventful other then a family with 8 children sitting directly in front of us. I cranked my Ipod up as high it could go with Guns & Roses playing and played Sudoku on my PSP, though the girls plans of sleeping were shattered.
It was raining in New York as we landed and with the thick cloud we couldn't see diddly. So much for a great view of NY nightime skyline. We landed at just before 8pm NY time (losing 3 hours in Time Zone difference.) and then it was another 90 mins before we arrived in our hotel.
Just before we arrived at the hotel the driver pointed a scence where a street was blocked off with Fire Engines and Police everywhere. Apparently a Yankee baseball player was flying a plane that crashed into this building today. First we had heard of it, maybe thats why we were delayed heading out of LA.
Anyway to anyone who was concerned, I can confirm we are safe and well. You can actually see the building that was hit from our hotel window. Its only 2 or 3 blocks away. Glad we weren't here when it happened.
Our hotel is great. Its a 1 bedroom apartment on the 18th floor and has a kitchenette which is great especially due to us not even having a fridge in LA. We went to a 'Diner' for dinner. It was pouring with rain outside, while we were in this diner that looked like it came straight out of a movie. And let me tell you, the food was fantastic, though as with everywhere else here, far too much of it. I had the best Chicken Parmigana I had ever eaten and the girls were happy as they were able to take desert home to put in the fridge to eat later.
We only have 4 full days in New York so there won't be much time for sleeping in the coming few days. Bring on tomorrow!!!!